


Tremors

by halo_in_reverse



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Angst, F/M, Meagan will kill you, Mentions of redacted, Moving On, past relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 04:24:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18242333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halo_in_reverse/pseuds/halo_in_reverse
Summary: Media days are hard. Moving on and moving forward is harder.





	Tremors

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song "Tremors" by Sohn. I really had no intention of writing in this fandom again but that song and these dorks got mixed in my head and here we are. Special thanks to closer2fine for the encouragement, love and beta. Where the hell would I be without you? Also, I am being very loose with the timeline because this is all fiction anyways.
> 
> As always, if you are the subject of this story please accept my most sincere apologies. Go Leafs, eh?

_Their syncopated hearts,_

_Loved one and other._

_They just didn't beat the same frequency._

_-Zienab Hamdan_

 

**July, 2018**

They sat side by side on deck chairs watching the sunset at the cottage, wiped out after a busy week of party and tour planning. She was still a few weeks from her long awaited and delayed vacation, and exhaustion settled heavy into her bones and her heart. The clock was ticking in so many ways, and the conversation could only be put off for so long.

“This isn’t going to work out, is it?” he asked, his voice thick and scratchy with things he didn’t want to say.

The question hung in the air for a heavy moment while she took a sip of wine, her eyes never leaving the darkening horizon. She didn’t have to ask to what he was referring, just like he didn’t bother to elaborate.

“No. Not in the way either of us deserve.”

And she was right. The last couple years had been some of the happiest, and hardest, of their lives. But as their necessary habitation in each other’s pockets came to an end, it was obvious to them both that his long-term goal of a craftsman house filled with a line change worth of kids and dogs destroying his lovingly restored hardwood floors was no closer to intersecting with her long-term goals of an MBA and summers in the French countryside and business ventures in far flung corners of the world than it was that fateful day back in China.

He nodded his agreement before reaching over and grabbing her hand, holding it tight as the sun took its final plunge.

The next morning, she woke to the sound of the ceiling fan’s gentle whooshing, an empty bed and her spare key that had occupied Scott’s ring sitting next to her phone on the nightstand.

 

**October, 2018**

Tucked away in the lounge area of her suite, they suffered through yet another interminable media day. While normally the mind-numbing monotony of the questions would lull him in to a bit of a dazed stupor, today his whole body was tensed in anticipation of the end. They had a few days off coming up, and he knew eventually he’d have to fess up to his plans. It’s not that he expected any sort of a fight but even after a truly amicable breakup, old habits and fears wrapped around him like ivy.

As she set up the laptop for a FaceTime conference with some station or another, he fumbled with his constantly vibrating phone. Group chats were slowly becoming the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

“What are you doing with your time off?” she finally asked.

He took a deep breath before he stepped off the cliff. “Eric and Luis and I are going to pick Jackie up at the airport in Calgary and drive out to Banff for a couple days.”

She paused her shuffling and smiled at him, open and bright. “Okay, be safe and have fun.”

That was not the reaction he expected. And the look on his face must have reflected that because she then said, “Perfect time of year for a trip out there. Weather is still nice and most of the tourist have cleared out.”

There was still no response beyond his befuddled face so she tried again.

“Congrats on the sex?”

That finally got him. “Jesus, Tess!”

The room instantly filled with her big booming laugh and with it, the suffocating tightness in his chest released.

“I don’t know what you want me to say here, Scott.”

With his shoulders finally retreating from up around his ears, he settled back into the couch. “I’m just so afraid of making this any weirder than it needs to be. There is so much riding on the tour and we’ve never been good at this part, you know?”

She does know. Lord, how she knows.

“As I understand it, one of the perks of having a girlfriend is actually spending time with them. Further, I’m not your boss, I’m not your warden, and God knows I’m not your mother.” He snorted loudly and finally smiled a bit. “You’re a big boy and know what the schedule is. Besides, you’re with Eric,” she rapped her knuckle gently against his knee “and I would never deprive Meagan the pleasure of taking three sets of balls as trophies if you’re not back before the buses leave.” She grinned and nudged his shoulder before resuming final preparations for the interview.

After she first learned about his new relationship, she vowed this time would be different between them, better. No simmering resentment, no passive aggressive jealousy. And for the most part, it was better. Maybe it was because from the moment she got back from France until now, they had been busy with tour prep and all of her attention and energy had been directed elsewhere. Maybe it was because she was finally confident with the place she would always hold in his life. Or maybe it was because she knew deep in her bones this is the way it was meant to be.

Still, some doubt gnawed at the edges of her acceptance. He’d been open and honest about Jackie from the start which was entirely new for them. But try as she might, there was one lingering question she knew she should leave alone. That was better left to the unknown. And despite the promise to herself, she couldn’t tamp it down.

Once satisfied the camera was at the correct angle and the microphone was working properly, she sat back and took a good look at him. In the end, desperate curiosity won out over good judgement. “There is one thing I’ve been wondering about, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Scott leaned forward to drop his phone back on the coffee table before turning his body to face her, one hand coming down from its spot along the back of the couch to rub her back. “You know you can ask me anything, T. Shoot.”

“That weekend back at the lake last summer, when we agreed to pull the plug on all this,” she waved her finger between them “did you even make it out of my driveway before you called her, or no?”

The blood drained from his face and his whole body flinched, eyes darting away to land on anything besides hers. And she immediately knew the answer.

At that moment, the incoming FaceTime alert sounded and a high, tight sigh escaped her lungs. She was still looking at him as she reached down to accept the meeting and when his eyes finally made their way back to her, all that was left for him was the saccharine rictus of her media smile.

 *~*~*~*


End file.
